Sunday, October 14, 2007

What has blogging done for me?

Curiously, it seems as though almost everyone I know now has a blog of some sort. Some simply have little rants on their myspace pages, while others have their own domains and write daily about passions, current events, sports, and paying endeavours.

While I've only had my own site here on blogger for a few months, I found myself writing more and more. Consequently, I soon found myself getting back to what it is that even gave me the notion to write in the first place - fiction.

While I started my first serious attempt at writing a novel in 2003, I swayed from the path, so to speak, a little over a year ago. It wasn't that the desire and determination had gone, but I was tired. I was tired of writing draft after draft and getting rejection after rejection. Whereas my skills were improving, I, like many who aspire to publish traditionally, am in a tough spot where being an unknown first time novelist makes it hard to break through, if you will. That said; my paying career was taking up more and more time and I decided to take a break. I never quit; I'm far too stubborn for that, but I knew I need to re-energize. All the while, I found myself trying to come up with new ideas for plots and also trying to force myself to sit down and finish the last draft of my most polished novel. The 22nd draft, to be exact. And yet I realized that for too long, I was trying to force it. While constantly reading and writing are keys to success, my opinion is that forcing your craft will only lead to poor results, thus my time off.

Now some time has passed and with blogging, I began to want to work on my drafts. I started to want to write down those new ideas and even start character sketches. A breakthrough? Perhaps, but what I know for sure is that writing is addictive and this forum has brought back a fuel I could have easily let run dry in search of something else. I realize now that whereas I may have needed time off from that project, I didn't need time off from writing. Blogging made me realize this. For those out there who aspire to publication or even those who just want to finish a piece you started long ago; never stop writing because no matter what form it comes in, it will undoubtedly be helpful in the long run.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish you success with your writing. Blogging helps a lot of people in many different ways. I'm happy to hear that it got your creative writing juices flowing again!

rel=nofollowKatie said...

I love writing fiction, too. Though you are miles ahead of me (I've never gotten past 5 or 6 chapters before I lose interest in my characters), I wish you the best of luck!

rel=nofollowTeige Benson said...

It always seems that the more writing you do, the more you want to do.

Keep with it and good luck!

rel=nofollowUnknown said...

You should check out www.nanowrimo.org

November is National Novel Writing Month and I think you may get a kick outta it.

And since I have been having problems writing fiction I to blog!